Macquarie: OpenAI's $1.2 Trillion Round Signals AI Boom Still Has Legs

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Summary · why it matters

Macquarie analysts Paul Golding and Alex Luthringer said Microsoft-backed OpenAI's potential new funding round at a valuation of as much as $1.2 trillion reinforces their view that artificial-intelligence demand remains strong. The reported valuation would put OpenAI above rival Anthropic, which was most recently valued at roughly $965 billion. The analysts said the funding discussions follow a meaningful reacceleration in OpenAI's commercial momentum after earlier concerns that Anthropic was gaining ground, noting OpenAI's reported $40bn ARR is roughly a doubling from earlier this year. They also pointed to the GPT-5.6 and Astra releases as evidence that improved model performance is still translating into additional enterprise and consumer adoption, supporting their view that AI infrastructure is in a supply-constrained position. Macquarie sees the development as supportive for SoftBank, which has significant exposure to OpenAI and controls chip designer Arm, and maintains an Outperform rating on SoftBank.

Impact on stocks 4

Artificial Intelligence▲ · 3 stocks
Microsoft Corporation
MSFT
▲ PositiveDemandrelevance

Macquarie cites Microsoft-backed OpenAI's $1.2T round and reaccelerating commercial momentum as evidence AI demand remains strong, supportive for Microsoft's AI exposure.

Financials▲ · 1 stocks
SoftBank Group Corp.
9984
▲ PositiveCapitalrelevance

Macquarie explicitly sees OpenAI's funding round as supportive for SoftBank, which has significant OpenAI exposure and controls Arm, maintaining an Outperform rating.

Theme Impact 2

Off-coverage companies 2

OpenAIPrivate▲ Positive
Capitalrelevance

OpenAI is the subject: a potential funding round at up to $1.2T valuation plus $40bn ARR and GPT-5.6/Astra releases.

AnthropicPrivate▼ Negative
Competitionrelevance

Anthropic is cited as the rival now valued below OpenAI (~$965bn) after earlier gaining ground, framing it as losing competitive momentum.

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